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Message: <blockquote data-quote="I'm A Banana" data-source="post: 210105" data-attributes="member: 2067">Kuhnigget!The HP Argument is as old as D&D itself. Chock it up to it being a *game* of *heroic* *fantasy*Of course both you and Mike Tyson have about the same chance of dying from falling on jagged rocks. Are either of you heroic fantasy game characters? NOSIREE! <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />Of course a D&D fighter can survive a dagger to the back whereas you, Mr. Real World Person, cannot. A D&D Fighter is a hero, an icon of cinematic, heroic fantasy, and ignores what you would call "reality."Yes, a dagger does 1d4 damage.Yes a *real* dagger would probably kill you. All the fencing classes and priestly rites can't make you a heroic fantasy character, nor does it make the dagger any less substantial. D&D makes both heroic fantasy characters *and* daggers less substantial.There's been a lot of description of how HP loss and gaining are treated, and that's really about as techincal as you get in D&D with HP loss.If, on the off chance, you were a heroic fantasy character, you would be Joe Nobody, Commonner 1. And guess what? That heroic fantasy dagger runs a durn good chance of killing you, what with your 2 hp. Just like it does in the Real World. This is how D&D, despite being heroic fantasy, makes it somewhat realistic. You are nobody. Nobodies can be killed by accidents and catching the flu and petty street theives. 2 hp, Com 1 nobodies do all the time.That's why there's HEROES! <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> Heroes don't get killed by accidents or flu or petty street theives. They cast magic and kill dragons. They don't die from gangrene infecting a wound or flower pots thrown from windows. In fact, an entire *hailstorm* of flower pots wouldn't kill them. Because only 2hp Com 1 nobodies die from getting flower pots to the head. And they don't get epic ballads written about them.This also explains why HP advances with levels, y'know? As you get more heroic, your power goes up until you can wrestle with gods and slaughter dragons in your sleep. Levels are a sort of measure of "heroicness" that a character has. And, of course, the more heroic you are, the *less* likely you are to be killed by a pitchfork, because it's heroic fantasy, where only 2hp Com 1 nobodies die from pitchforks, and *that's* why they need big 178 hp Ftr 15 HEROES to save them from the pitchfork menace. It also explains the XP system, that you gain XP for doing things heroic and monumental. You don't gain XP from sittin' around growin' old, yo! You gotta be a hero to increase in heroicness!It's unrealistic. It's fantastical. It's heroic. It suits it's purposes well.If you don't like the fact that HP is an abstraction of heroism, easily hand-waved in all the ways given already (I, myself, use the "skill to avoid taking harder blows" approach), then perhaps heroic fantasy isn't the cup of tea you're looking for. Which is fine. Play something grittier and more realistic for more entertainment. ^_^Okay, that was a rant. Sorry. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> But it irks me when people demand to know *exactly* what an abstraction in D&D measures.It measures how heroic you are. Now shut up before I have to punch you for 1d3 subdual damage and knock your 2hp Com1 butt out, mofo. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />--Meaning No Harm, The Midget</blockquote>

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